Apparatus for printing



Oct 15. 1940-. J, M. DowNs 2,218,282

APPARATUS FOR PRINTING Filed May 4, 1938 v 6 Sheets-Sheet l //VVEA/70/?'HY W ra 7 xrram/gx J. M. DOWNS APPARATUS FOR PRINTING Oct. 15, 1940.

Filed May 4, 1938 e Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 15, 1940.

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Oct. 15. 1940. J M. DOWNS 1 APPARATUS FOR PRINTING Filed May 4, 1938 6Sheets-Sheet 4 Oct. 15. 1940. J M: DOWNS APPARATUS FOR PRINTING FiledMay 4, 1938 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 lv/rA/sss; 61

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APPARATUS FOR PRINTING Filed May 4, 1938 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 (Z9752: flgozwzs 153W Patented Oct. 15, 1940. l

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS roa PRINTING John M. Downs,Philadelphia la assignor to The Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia,Pa., a. corporation of Pennsylvania Application May 4, 1938, Serial No.205,914

7 Claims.

In multicolor printing and for the purposes of drying the ink to the endthat production may be speeded up use is frequently made of hoods ofcent space. The present invention also provides an apparatus adapted forthe practice of the 15 method described in copending application, SerialNumber 205,915 filed May 4, 1938, by me in connection with such amovable hood.

Generally stated the invention comprises first and second side printingmechanisms arranged in 20 series and thru which a web rapidly travels,an internally heated drum arranged at the delivery side of each of saidmechanisms and to and over which the web travels with the newly printedside out anddirectly from the printing mechanism, an arcuate hoodtightly enclosing a chamber around a substantial portion of theperiphery of each drum and having closely spaced inlet and outlet ports,and a recirculating system connected with said ports and including aheater and burner and 30 a blower.

The invention also comprises the improvements to be presently describedand finally claimed.

In the following description reference will be made to the accompanyingdrawings forming part hereof and in which- Figure 1 is a sideelevational view with parts broken away of one of the printingmechanisms and of which the other printing mechanism is a substantialduplicate.

Fig. 1A is a sectional view taken on the line |A-lAof Fig. 3. t

Fig. 2 is an elevational view showing mechanism for moving the hoods.

Fig. 3 is a top or plan view showing the re.- circulating system for thehoods of the two printing mechanisms, indicating that the inlet andoutlet fines may be designed for use with movable hoods.

50 Figs. 4 and 5 are respectively a sectional elevation and a sectionalplanshowing parts of the recirculating system and parts of the movablehoods.

Fig. 6 is an elevational view showing one of the 5 hoods in retractedposition to mom access to the heating roll for recovering and repairinga broken web, and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of inlet and outletports to the hood.

Referring to the drawings and more particu- 5 larly to Fig. 1, Iindicates a four color printing mechanism thru which the web W rapidlytravels and is printed on one side. 2 indicates an internally heateddrum around which the web W passes and by which it is heated so that theheat may be 10 transferred thru the web to the printed face or side.While a four color press is shown, the invention is applicable topresses of more than four colors. From the roll 2 the web W is led overthe cooling rolls A and then as by a guide roll IE to a duplicate fourcolor printing press equipped in the manner shown in the drawings andhereinafter described in connection with the first side printing press.3 is a generally arcuate hood which encloses a substantial part of thearea of the roll 2 and which abuts upon the fixed portion 18 whichencloses or encases the rest of the roll 2. The movable portion '3 ofthe hood is mounted upon a carriage l3 having wheels 20 adapted to runon rails or ways 2|. .In describing one of the 2 hoods it will beremembered that there are two hoods and that they are substantiallyalike, so that a description of one is sufficient. The hoods are movedat the same time and in synchronism by means of a shaft 22 provided witha hand wheel 23, and with pinions 24 that mesh with racks 25 on thecarriages. In this way thecarriages and hoods are moved in alignment bythe rotation of the hand wheel 23. Internally the hoods are providedwith incoming nozzles 4 and I outgoing nozzles 5. The nozzles areclosely spaced over a considerable portion of the periphery of the drum2. The incoming nozzles 4 are supplied from a casing 6, Fig. 4, which isconnected with a flue 9 and the outgoing nozzles 5 are connected at theopposite sides of the hood with the conduits 1.. Referring to Fig. 3'theconduits I of one of the hoods extend separately into the hue I0,whereas the conduits 1 of the other machine meet as a branch of anextension of the conduits I which connect with the flue Hi. It will beunderstood that the described air connections are mounted on and movablewith the carriages upon which the hoods are mounted. By reference toFig. 1, it will be obesrved that the flue l0 extends downward andcommunicates with a heater and burner H, and thence to a blower or fan 8which connects with the iiue 9. air inlet.

11 indicates an I4 are flange fittings detachably bolted or otherwiseconnected together and they are secured respectively to the portions ofthe conduits 9 and I0 which are fixed and they are indicated at theright in Fig. 2, and to the portions of the conduits Send I which arecarried by the carriages [3, .so that when it is desired to move thehoods 3 back and away from. the rolls 2 in the manner described theflanges ll are uncoupled, and, of course, when the hoods 3 are inposition to close the chambers in which the rolls 2 are arranged theflanges H are coupled together. The fixed portion I8 of the enclosure ofthe chamher in which is arranged the roll 2 is shown as provided with anopen vent I9.

In use, after the first side four color printing, the web W rapidlytravels around the drum 2 and from it, after cooling, over the guideroll 15 to the second printing mechanism which is not shown because itis a substantial duplicate of the first side printing and dryingmechanism which is shown in Fig. 1. In its travel around the drum 2 thefirst side ink on the web W is subjected to heat from the drum 2 thruthe web itself and the ink is also subjected directly to a multi;plicity of closely spaced inlet jets 4 of high velocity, hightemperature air, at the same time the ink itself is subjected to amultiplicity of outgoing jets 5, and the re-circulation of this largequantity of highly heated, high velocity air thru the chamber enclosedby the hood rapidly and thoroughly dries the ink so that after thattreatment the ink may be said to be bone dry and after cooling, thesecond side printing. can be accomplished without smudging, and in themanner described in connection with the first side printing. Thetemperature of the drum Imay be below that at which the web scorches,for

'example below 400 to 425 F. and the temperature of the air introducedby the jet nozzles 4 may be considerably above that temperature, but theweb is not scorched. because the heat is stopped whenever the press isstopped.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which the inventionrelates that modifications may be made in details of construction andarrangement without departing from the spirit of the invention which isnot limited in respect to.

such matters or otherwise than as the prior art and the appendedclaims-may require.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for rapidly printing and drying at least four colors oneach side of a continuously moving web which comprises first and secondside printing mechanisms arranged in series and thru which a web rapidlytravels, an internally heated drum arranged at the delivery side of eachof said mechanisms and to and over which the web travels newly printedside out directly from the printing mechanism, an arcuate hood tightlyenclosing a chamber around a substantial portion of the periphery ofeach drum and having closely spaced and alternating inlet and outletports, and a re-circulating system connected with said ports andincluding a heater and burner and a blower.

2. Apparatus for rapidly printing and drying at least four colors oneach side of a continuously moving web which comprises first and secondside printing mechanisms arranged in series and thru which a web rapidlytravels, an internally heated drum arranged at the delivery side of eachof said mechanisms and to and over which the web travels newly printedside out directlyirom the printing mechanism, an arcuate hood tightlyenclosing a chamber around a substantial portion of the periphery ofeach drum and having closely spaced and alternating inlet and outletports, a re-ciiculating system connected with said ports and includingsectional inlet and outlet fiues ofwhich the sections are detachablyconnected together and oi! which one section is connected to the hoods,means by which the hoods and their connected flue sections can be movedinto spaced relation with respect to the drums and back again to theiroriginal positions, and a heater and burner and a blower interposed inthe flue.

3. In apparatus of the type described the combination of a high pressureheated roll around which a first side printed web travels, and a hooddefining a chamber around said roll and consisting of a fixed portionthrough the wall of which the web enters and leaves and a detachedmovable portion adapted to be bodily moved into contact with the fixedportion and into a position entirely spaced from the fixed portion toafiord access to accumulations of paper at the roll.

4. In apparatus of the type described the combination of a high pressureheated roll around which a first side printed web travels, a hooddefining a chamber around said roll and consisting of a fixed'portionthrough the wall of.

which the web enters and leaves and a detached movable portion adaptedto be bodily moved into contact with the fixed portion and into aposition entirely spaced from the fixed portion to afford access toaccumulations of paper at the roll, .and ways upon which said movableportion of the hood is slidable.

5. In printing and drying apparatus the combination of a heated rollaround which a first side printed web travels, an arcuate hood whichencloses a substantial partoi the area of the roll and which comprises afixed and a bodily movable portion, said fixed portion provided withopenings for the ingress and egress of the web, said movable portionprovided with air inlet and outlet connections and a wheeled carriageand its ways on which said movable portion and its air connections aremounted for movement of translation toward and away from the fixedportion.

6. In printing and drying apparatus the combination of a heated rollaround which a first side printed web travels, an arcuate hood whichencloses a substantial part of the surface of the roll and whichcomprises a fixed and a bodily movable detached portion, said fixedportion provided with openings for the ingress and. egress of the web,and said movable portion provided with air inlet and outlet connectionshaving laterally opening flanged ends, fixed air connections disposed atan inclination and having flanged ends adapted to cooperate with thefirst mentioned flanged ends, and means for moving the movable portionof the hood with a motion of translation in respect to the fixed portionof the hood.

7. In a printing and drying apparatus the combination of a heated rollaround which a first side printing web travels, an arcuate hood having abodily movable portion provided with air connections, means upon whichthe bodily movable portion is movable with a-moti0n of translation,fixed air connections, and coupling members between thefixed and movableair connections.

JOHN M. DOWNS.

